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Can A Muslim Ever Get Elected In France?
by Julian Hollick
MARSEILLE, France, March 20 (IslamOnline) - Nouredine Hagoug failed in his bid to become the first Muslim elected a city counselor on the Gaullist Party ticket in Marseille, France, even though 70% of the voters in his district are Muslim.
Even though he increased his vote by eight percent, the Socialist candidate had too big a lead to be overtaken.
"I'm very disillusioned," he told IslamOnline the day after the elections. "I'm not sure this country is really ready yet for Muslims to assume a real role in the political life of France. This is not a culture that is used to really accepting the right to be different. Yes, they talk about equality and human rights, but as long as you share the culture.
"I'm French. I was born here. But I'm also a Muslim and I don't want to give up my North African culture. And why should I?" he queried.
In Sunday's voting, the Gaullists retained control of Marseille, but lost the Muslim Quartiers Nord where Socialists retained power.
The 40-year-old Muslim Frenchman wanted to be the first Muslim to be elected on the Gaullist Party ticket in Marseille municipality in Sunday's nationwide elections.
Gaullism is the quintessential party of French nationalism, founded by General de Gaulle in 1945. But observers say the French, who have arguably the strongest sense of nationhood of any large European country, were not going to vote for someone, though French, still perceived as a foreigner.
In Sunday's elections, whose results were mostly released on Monday, a big surprise was the performance on the anti-immigrant National Front, who polled 20%.
Many of their voters are not racist, or even anti-Muslim, but are elderly, retired couples who feel physically threatened by young people with dark skin.
Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's left-wing coalition suffered a series of reverses Sunday in provincial French municipal elections that took some of the shine off historic victories in Paris and Lyon.
Polling estimates released in Paris showed the Socialist Party's Bertrand Delanoe ahead in the capital, but in other major cities Socialist and left-wing candidates lost former strongholds.
Marseille, the second largest city in France, with 800,000 inhabitants, of whom 25% are Muslims from North Africa (Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco) or Africa (Senegal), has traditionally seen an almost total absence of elected French Muslims.
While polls were open in Marseille, isolated incidents of intimidation were reported. A Frenchwoman said she felt scared when a strapping young African moved towards her at the polling booth to ask a question.
A young Muslim woman, Lila, who worked for Nouredine Hagoug, called his headquarters in desperation when a dozen young white men, workers for the rival Socialist party, surrounded her outside a voting station. In each case, the woman perceived a threat, whether real or not.
Nouredine got a consolation prize: he was elected district counselor in Les Quartiers Nord, a position without real power. He is in two minds whether to stand again in six years time. "I put my family through a lot, and I don't know if I can do that again, if it's only to fail next time."
Nouredine thinks the Gaullists may have been quite happy not to see him elected. A Muslim with a genuine power base of his own might be too independent.
"This is why I could never work within the Socialist Party, even though I could get elected this way! I tried the Gaullists and I'm not sure they really wanted to see me win. They like Muslims to stay dependent."
"I'll continue to fight because I believe we need a synthesis of Islam and Gaullism: stable, conservative values, starting with belief in God, but combined with a sense of individual responsibility and the Gaullist idea that we are all equal, whatever our skin color, religion or dress," Nourdine said.
"But maybe I'm ahead of my time. I seriously doubt whether France is ready to accept an elected Muslim official who refuses to be assimilated into secular France, where it seems anything goes in the name of liberalism - gay marriages, making fun of all religions. But is France ready for a Muslim conservative Party?"
It's doubtful someone like Nouredine can really work today outside the mainstream political parties. It's also doubtful whether the Muslim population, conditioned to subservience by decades of paternalistic state policies, is ready to support a separate party.
"It will take a long time." Nouredine adds, "And I don't know if I'm either willing or the right person to do it."
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